Note to self; if I weren't working for a tree nursery, I would order hedging about now. Seasoned Ashridge customers already know the plus points of buying bareroot trees, hedges and plants.

• You can carry them around without calling your osteopath.
• They're (very much) cheaper than container grown plants
• Bareroot plants also establish better (no disappointment and no waste)
• They are better for the environment (have you ever thought how much watering and fertilising and spraying is required for potted plants?) To say nothing of the plastic and the carriage/carbon costs of transporting all that compost.

So, with all that in mind, take another look at your garden, and mind the gaps…

• Hole in the hedge?
• Need a super specimen tree in your lawn like a beautiful flowering cherry?
• Be brave and make a new 'room' in your garden – perhaps using copper beech to hedge in a large purple room.
• Going small? Then try out the "new" box - Ilex crenata or Japanese holly for a more modest space.
• Need to screen out your neighbour's vast trampoline/PIR security light/non-Farrow and Ball tree house? Think about Cherry laurel, Lawson's cypress or English yew(which grows much more quickly than people think).
• Which brings us to the need for a stock proof hedge. We sell some of the best hedge plants in the UK and incredibly, backing on to farmland at home we did not have one last spring. Well, we do now (or it will be in about three years from now. However just before I planted it, the cows got in, and I still curse the damage they did... in about 30 minutes flat. So don't make the same mistake.
• And away from hedging; if you suffer a dearth of any homegrown fruit – for a quick fix try some rhubarb or a small apple tree like the self-explanatory Scrumptious.

The soil still has a bit of warmth in it which encourages some root growth before winter sets in, so why not walk around the garden with a mug of tea and a notebook, make a list and put your order in for delivery in the next couple of weeks?

Laburnum x wateri Vossii 'Golden Rain'

Scrumptious Apple Tree